2018 EJRNL PP Jomon Aliyas Paul 1
Terbatas ilham rahayu
» ITB
Terbatas ilham rahayu
» ITB
Online social networks (OSNs) have permeated all generations of Internet users, becoming a prominent
communications tool, particularly in the student community. Thus, academic institutions and faculty are
increasingly using social networking sites, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, to connect with current and
potential students and to deliver instructional content. This has led to a rise in questions about the impact
of OSN on academic performance and the possibility of using it as an effective teaching tool. To learn
more about the impact on academic performance, we conducted a survey of business students at a large
state university. Survey results were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results
revealed a statistically significant negative relationship between time spent by students on OSN and their
academic performance. The time spent on OSN was found to be heavily influenced by the attention span
of the students. Specifically, we determined that the higher the attention span, the lower is the time spent
on OSN. Further, attention span was found to be highly correlated with characteristics that predict or
influence student behavior, such as their perceptions about society’s view of social networking, their likes
and dislikes of OSN, ease of use of OSN, etc.